Last Goodbyes
by rachmarie150
Summary: What if Castle had been in the building with Ryan instead of Esposito in Under Fire? Would they make it out alive? How would Beckett handle herself knowing that her fiancé could be dead inside a burning building? AU fic for 6x11.
1. Prologue

**I saw a post on tumblr for someone to write an AU fic from 6x11 (Under Fire) about what would happen if it were Castle and Ryan inside the building instead of Esposito and Ryan. **

**Apparently I'm a masochist and enjoy making myself sob over this, so I am doing it! I'm going to make it run from chapter to chapter just like the episode, but some things will be changed, considering the fact that it's Castle with Ryan and not Esposito. Also, this will be more from Kate's point of view, making this story pretty emotional and quite angsty. **

**Oh, and by the way, I have not given up on Your Wish is My Command! I'm just working on a few chapters for it at the moment. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, but God, I wish I did.**

**P.S. GOOD LUCK TO THE CAST OF CASTLE TONIGHT AT THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS! I REALLY HOPE THEY WIN ALL THE CATEGORIES THAT THEY'RE NOMINATED FOR!**

**Okay, enough about all this, on with the story... (aka grab some tissues)**

* * *

She can't cry. She won't cry. She has to be strong, not only for her but for Esposito. His partner is in that building.

But God, so is hers.

Her _fiancé_ is in that building.

What if he's dead? What if he's already burnt to a crisp?

No, she can't think like that. Castle's a fighter, and so is Ryan. They're going to make it out of there alive.

Or so she hopes.

She feels the lone tear escape and run down her cheek as the shrill ring of her cell phone and it's vibration against her abdomen startles her out of her own mournful thoughts.

She pulls the device from her pocket and looks at the screen. "It's Jenny," she says with a sigh to Esposito, who is standing beside her.

"Why would she be calling you?" he asks.

"Maybe she's heard from them. Maybe she knows that they're safe," Beckett says with slightly too much enthusiasm, trying to reassure her pseudo-brother and most importantly, herself.

She answers on speakerphone with a simple, "Jenny?"

"Kate, oh thank God," the nine month pregnant woman says with a hint of worry in the tone of her voice. "Umm, have you heard from Kevin?" she asks anxiously.

Another tear falls down Kate's cheek as her heart shatters for herself and the woman she has come to love as a friend. "No, have you?" she forces out.

"No. I've been calling him to test our system and he's not answering. I'm freaking out a little bit, umm, do you have any idea where he is?"

Kate looks to Esposito, and he responds with a sympathetic look.

She has to tell Jenny that her husband, along with her own fiancé, are trapped in a burning building and she doesn't even know whether or not they are dead or alive. She turns to look at the building.

"Kate? Kate, are you there?" Jenny says, wondering if the connection had been lost.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here," Kate gulped as she turned back to Esposito.

"What's going on? Where's Kevin?"

"Jenny I need you to stay calm, okay? Something's happened," her voice broke as the tears freely fell.

Two of the most important people in her life were slowly slipping out of it, and she couldn't do anything about it. She just had to sit there and watch as the love of her life and her pseudo-brother were trapped inside a building engulfed in flames.

All of the tears that she had kept at bay finally broke free.

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**TO BE CONTINUED. **

**Review?(: Thank you all! **

**-Rachel **


	2. Chapter 1

**WOW! I was shocked at the amount of follows, favorites, and reviews I have gotten in the past day! You guys are the best! Thank you so much!**

**This chapter is literally what happened in the episode. I said this was going to happen, so yeah. We need the backstory to get to the other crazy parts later in the story! **

**Without further ado, here's chapter two! (hehe rhymes) I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: ALL OF THE DIALOGUE IN THIS CHAPTER IS ANDREW MARLOWE'S, NOT MINE.**

* * *

_12 HOURS EARLIER_

Castle, Beckett, and Ryan stepped into the disheveled and charred burned building. They carefully walked through the room from the entrance.

"A crime scene at a fire, I've never done one of these before!" Castle said excitedly to Ryan as he rubbed his hands together in excitement.

"After this, you might not want to," Ryan said as he looked at what once were the walls, stepping over debris and larger pieces of metal. "The building was being rehabbed and the place was supposed to be empty. I guess our victim didn't get that memo."

"Do we know who our victim is?" Beckett asked as she followed behind Castle and Ryan.

"Uh no-, " Ryan was interrupted by the ring of his phone. "Oh, oh oh oh oh my God, oh my God it's Jenny, it's go time," he said as he stopped and answered his phone spastically. "Hi Jenny, are you having contractions, are you-?" He was cut off by his wife on the other end of the line.

Castle and Beckett shared a smile behind Ryan's back while he listened to what his wife had to say. They were so excited for him, but they knew he was taking things a bit too enthusiastically.

"Oh, no, no it's good to double check if my phone's working, or, triple check. Okay, alright sweetie, talk to you soon." He ends the call with his pregnant wife and sighs. "False alarm."

"What is she, uh, two days past her due date?" Castle asks as they continue walking further into the building.

"Three, so it could happen at any minute. Can you believe it, me as a dad?" Ryan said.

"No Ryan, you're going to be great," Beckett responded as she shined her flashlight around the room, looking at the state of disarray the building was in.

"You guys pick a name?" Castle asked Ryan.

"No, we couldn't agree on one, so we're waiting to see if it's a boy or a girl and then decide."

"May I suggest, Cosmo," Castle said with a smirk.

"No you may not," Ryan replied quickly with a quirk of his eyebrow. "And rather than pick a name for my kid, you should plan a date for your wedding," Ryan said, gesturing between the couple.

"Plan a date for my wedding? I was planning on bringing her," Castle replied as he pointed to Beckett.

"Really? When is that? I might have plans," Beckett replied to her fiancé with a sassy look as she walked into another room of the building.

"Hey! I'm Mark Kimball, building safety, you guys really need to be in here?" a tall, bearded man in a hard hat said as he approached him, with a New York firefighter in tow.

"It's where our crime scene is," Beckett told him as she pointed her flashlight to the room where Lanie was with the corpse.

"Ah, well don't stay any longer than you have to. The fire did structural damage. I need to clear the building," Mark said.

"We should be in and out," Ryan reassured him.

"Okay."

"Thanks," Kate said as she followed Ryan into the room where Lanie was kneeling by the body, examining it.

"So, do we know who the victim is?" Beckett asked as they walked up to the completely charred body.

"Nope. Dude had a wallet, but it's burnt to a crisp," Ryan said. "Even if he was a dude, it's even hard to tell that.

"I see what you mean," Castle said to Ryan.

"Actually, he is a dude, which is about all I can tell you right now," Lanie said to the detectives and writer as she stood.

"Is that a bullet hole?" Kate asked as she looked at the victim's forehead.

"Probably a nine. So needless to say, this wasn't from natural causes," the medical examiner explained.

"Neither was the fire," an African American woman said as she stepped into the room. She was also adorned in a hard hat.

"This is Lieutenant Delia Burton, she's a fire investigator with FDNY. Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle," Ryan said as he introduced the professionals to each other.

"Nice to meet you. So, this was arson?" Kate asked her.

"Well, it's looking that way. I found miniscule traces of accelerant at the flash point."

"So the killer set the fire to cover up the murder?" Castle asked.

"Except there's no accelerant on the body. The fire's flash point is deep in the building. You know, normally when you're disposing of a body, you're going to make sure it burns," Delia explained.

"So maybe our victim surprised the arsonist," Beckett said.

"And the arsonist killed him, silencing him as a witness," Castle continued.

"That's how it looks to me," Delia said. "Then again, homicide's not my specialty."

"No, uh, but fire is. Would you mind keeping me in the loop in case you find anything else?" Beckett asked as she handed Delia her card.

"Sure. As soon as I know what happened, so will you," Delia said with a smile.

As she started to leave the room, the building rumbled and made other strange and somewhat dangerous noises. Ryan stood and they all looked up at the ceiling, expecting it to start to fall at any minute.

"Whoa, what was that?" Castle asked.

"The building. You guys should probably go," Delia said.

"Sounds good, see ya!" Castle said as he ran out of the room. The other four people in the room watched him leave and were amused by his childish retreat.

Beckett turned back to the others and sighed as she rolled her eyes. "I'm marrying… him," she whispered.

"Yeah," Ryan said.

"Yeah," she said back to herself. "Umm, why don't we just look into whoever owns this place, see if they know who might've been in here."

"Right," Ryan said as he prepared to leave and find the owner of the building.

Murder and arson? This was going to be a long, tough case. Little do they know…

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**TO BE CONTINUED. **

**Review?(: **


	3. Chapter 2

**My other fanfiction is finished, which means all of my focus is going to be on this now! Yaaay! Sorry to make everyone wait for so long.**

**I have had reviews asking when the AU part is going to start, and my answer is that it will start once Ryan and in this case, Castle enter the building. I believe that will be in about three chapters or so. **

**This one is short and just like the episode, but I need to put it in so we can get to the good stuff later! Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: ALL OF THE DIALOGUE IN THIS CHAPTER IS ANDREW MARLOWE'S, NOT MINE.**

* * *

"I have no idea who he is. Wasn't nobody supposed to be in there on account of the renovation. Maybe the guy was a bum or a squander or something," the Italian man said with a shrug of his shoulders as he sat in an interview room.

Castle and Beckett gave him a look.

"But hey, a human life, still a tragedy, right?" he said.

"Mr. Turino let's talk about why no one was there, not even a security guard. Wasn't your building basically abandoned after you stopped renovations three months ago?" Beckett asked with a wave of her finger.

"Due to a cash flow problem?" Castle jumped in with a quirk of his eyebrow.

"Who are you again?" Turino asked with a tone of disgust.

"Just someone who couldn't help but notice your bank required high levels of insurance on that building as a condition of granting you the loan," Castle replied.

"So?"

"So a total loss insurance claim would solve all of your cash flow problems," Beckett said.

"Right. The downside being, you'll go to prison for murder," Castle added.

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't burn down my own building, okay? Somebody else must've done it."

"Tell me Mr. Turino, are you involved in organized crime?" Beckett asked.

"I take offence to that. Just because I'm Italian, I'm in the mob?" Turino responded angrily.

"No, I think you are in the mob because you are a known member of the Menaria crime family and you also have convictions in racketeering, fraud, assault-"

"Okay, okay," he cut her off. "I moved on. I'm out of the life now. It was my dream to rehab that building, and flip it, retire to Boca. Now that dream? It's up in smoke."

Castle and Beckett looked at each other. Beckett rolled her eyes at the pun. Up in smoke, it definitely was. Just like their investigation.

* * *

While Castle and Beckett were interviewing Mr. Turino, Delia was looking around in the building where the body was found. She was walking around one of the rooms, looking with her flashlight for clues as to why the arsonist had turned to homicide. The rubble and blood on the floor was in one specific spot. She knelt down and felt it with the tips of her fingers, and then she took out her pocket knife to slice through the singed carpet. She pulled the carpet back and found a red X on the floor. She was stunned. What could it be for? She had no idea, but it was definitely important.

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**TO BE CONTINUED. **

**Review?(: **


	4. Chapter 3

**I'm sitting in AP Psychology class right now, bored out of my mind, so I guess it's time to update! (:**

**Disclaimer: ALL OF THE DIALOGUE IN THIS CHAPTER IS ANDREW MARLOWE'S, NOT MINE.**

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"Yo Beckett," Esposito said as he hung up his phone and stood up from his desk to walk with her.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"So Turino's alibi checks out. He was at the Pink Palace Gentlemen's club last night stuffing G-strings from eight PM to four AM," he said as he walked up to her desk.

"Yeah but that doesn't mean he's in the clear, I mean Turino wouldn't do this himself."

"Well I'll see if anyone's he's been hanging with has any connection to arson."

"Okay, I'll grab Castle; we'll see if Lanie's got anything new on our vic."

* * *

Castle and Beckett entered the morgue where Lanie was standing by the singed body on the slab.

"Still no ID and he's not in any missing person's report," Lanie said as she put some files down from tests that she had done on the corpse.

"We get a match on the bullet?" Beckett asks.

"It's not in the system, but the cause of death was definitely a GSW to the head. No smoke in the lungs so he was already dead before the fire got going."

"Beats getting roasted alive," Castle commented.

"I'm right there with you," Lanie replied as Kate gave her fiancé an eye roll. "Also, he was healthy, muscular, his teeth were in good shape, so he probably wasn't homeless. Plus, he had great medical care."

"How can you tell?" Beckett asked.

"He had a fractured leg that was splinted with metal plates and screws. Quality work, too," Lanie said as she showed the couple the x-ray.

"Can the plate be traced?" Castle asked.

"I'm already on it."

"It wasn't the left leg. Anterior femur, midway down," they heard a voice from behind them. They turned to find Delia in the doorway, a bit choked up.

"That's right. How did you know?" Lanie asked.

"I know who he is," Delia responded with a sigh as she looked at the body. "He's a fire investigator named Blake McCann. He was my partner."

Beckett looked to Castle with a shocked look on her face. Now she knew why Delia was so shook up. The victim was her partner. Kate couldn't even imagine the hurt she must be going through. If she ever lost Castle, she didn't know what she'd do with herself.

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**Do you sense some foreshadowing in those last few sentences?(; **

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	5. Chapter 4

**After this, there will only be one more episode-based chapter before this turns AU! Get excited folks, and hold on to your seats, because this is going to be a crazy, fun, angsty ride. I promise I won't kill you, but I'll try to do the best I can. (;**

**Disclaimer: ALL OF THE DIALOGUE IN THIS CHAPTER IS ANDREW MARLOWE'S, NOT MINE.**

* * *

"Okay, got it Lanie," Beckett said as she hung up the phone. "So dental records confirm that our victim is Blake McCann," she said as she came toward the table to sit down next to Castle and across from Delia. "I'm very sorry."

"He was a good man. Most decent person I ever knew," Delia responded with a sad smile.

"Do you know of anyone in his life that would've wanted to hurt him?" Beckett asked.

"Just the person who left this," Delia said as she reached over to receive a picture of the red X from the floor of the crime scene. "I found it at the fire scene."

"What is it?" Beckett asked as she and Castle looked at the photo confusedly.

"This pattern is made by accelerant. From the staining pattern, probably benzoyl peroxide squeezed from a tube. Blake found the same pattern in ten other burned buildings."

"So it's a signature," Castle deducted.

"Of a serial arsonist. Blake has been hunting this guy for years. It's how he spent every spare minute. In fact, he had just taken some vacation days to work the case. When I found this symbol, I called him. He didn't call me back, I uh… I just had an awful feeling," Delia explained.

"Did he know who the arsonist is? Did he have any suspects?" Beckett asked.

"Not that he ever told me. He just called him The Phantom because he seemed to be able to slip in and out of buildings without people ever noticing."

"Until now maybe," Castle added.

"Well that's got to be it, right? I mean, Blake went in that building because he was after the guy, and that's who killed him."

"It's too soon to know, but it's a place to start. Now, we're going to need copies of his case files linked to the arsonist," Beckett said.

"He took a bunch of them home with him."

"I'll have detectives pick them up," Beckett said.

"The rest are at the office. I'll give them over to you."

"Great."

* * *

"So, I talked to Blake McCann's co-workers, his ex-wife, and if he's got any enemies, I am _not_ finding them," Beckett said as she paced behind her desk, talking to her fiancé who was in his usual chair next to her desk.

"He messed with the phantom."

"Can you please not call him that? It just… it sounds silly."

"Sillier than The Arsonist, which starts with arse? At least with The Phantom, he's got some mystique."

"He doesn't deserve mystique, he's a murderer!"

"Yeah, but killing is not a part of his usual MO. Until now, all the buildings he torched were empty."

"Okay, alright so what else do they have in common?"

"Not much, all of the buildings were older. Some were residential, some were office buildings. There was two in Manhattan and the rest in Brooklyn and in Queens."

"Were they insured?"

"A couple of them, but not all of them, so it probably was not arson for hire."

"Which means he's doing this for himself. He's burning these buildings to satisfy an inner need, and like a serial killer, there's a reason why he chooses the buildings he does, there's a pattern or something."

"Oh!" Castle says as he looks at McCann's notes.

"What?" Beckett asks.

"Entry from three days ago, McCann wrote down a name. Adam Ferguson."

She looked at him proudly. They had caught a break.

* * *

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	6. Chapter 5

**PLEASE READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE. **

**Okay, so this chapter is semi-AU. Read it and you'll see why! Next chapter starts the real AU stuff!**

**Some people have been leaving reviews like "Why are you using the same dialogue from the episode" and blahblah. I'm doing that because this is still the episode, it's just that two characters (Castle and Esposito) are switched. And yes, as a result of this, especially in all the next chapters to come, some of the lines will still be the same and some will be completely different because of the fact that the character's roles have changed. **

**Anyway, thank you to all who have followed this story! The number grows everyday and it makes me really happy!(:**

* * *

Esposito and Ryan entered the victim's house, guns up and safety's off. They checked the house for any potential threats. It had obviously been ransacked.

"Clear," Esposito said.

"Clear," Ryan echoed.

They looked around the living room and noticed the framed certificates and accomplishments on the wall. They also noticed the broken frames on the floor and the out-of-place and torn furniture and other items that adorned the room.

"I'd say someone besides us is interested in Blake McCann," Esposito said to his partner.

"Yeah… looks like this place was tossed after he was killed," Ryan replied as he put his gun back in its holster.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah, the arsonist shot him, then got worried McCann left a paper trail."

"He came here searching for any files or evidence that would point to him."

"Maybe our perp tossed the place because he couldn't find them."

"McCann had no reason to hide those files. It'd be out on a table, a desk, or a nightstand."

Ryan nodded in understanding, trying to think of what the perpetrator was thinking at the time.

"Wait. McCann's car. It wasn't in the driveway," Esposito said.

"Or in the garage," Ryan replied.

"He probably drove over to that building before he was killed. It could still be down there."

"Yeah, with those files in it."

* * *

"Here it is, Adam Ferguson," Beckett said as she pulled up his record on the computer. "And Blake McCann helped put him away on multiple arson counts. He got out of prison five years ago."

"Which by wild coincidence is right about the same time those buildings started getting torched," Castle replied.

"Not only that, but check this out. Look at who Blake called on his cell the day before he was killed," Beckett said, showing her partner their vic's phone records.

Beckett and Castle were about to go get uniforms to bring Adam Ferguson in for an interrogation when Beckett's phone rang. It was Esposito.

"Beckett."

"Hey Beckett. McCann's place has been tossed, but none of the files on the arson cases are here. Also, his car isn't here, and we're thinking that maybe his car is at the burned building and the files are in his car. We were going to go over there now, but Gates just called me and said she wanted to talk to me about something."

"Ryan can take Castle with him to the building, and I'll have you do the interrogation of a possible suspect with me when you're done talking to Gates. Sound good?"

"Yeah, works for me. I'll be there in a bit."

Beckett hung up with Esposito and put her phone back on the desk.

"Where am I going with Ryan?" Castle asked.

"To the building to look for McCann's car. Is that okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, no problem."

"Thanks, babe," she said as she walked away to go talk to a uniform.

Ryan and Esposito arrived, and Castle went off with Ryan to the building. Esposito went in to talk to Gates and Beckett sat at her desk, waiting for the two uniforms to bring in Adam Ferguson.

"Everything okay?" Beckett asked a few minutes later as she walked up to Esposito's desk, where he was now sitting after his talk with the Captain.

"Yep, no big deal," he replied. Just then, the elevator dinged and the two uniforms stepped out with Adam Ferguson right in front of them.

"Perfect timing," Beckett said to herself.

* * *

"Yeah, Blake McCann called me," Ferguson said as he sat opposite Beckett and Esposito at the table in the interrogation room.

"To talk about what?" Beckett asked.

"Just a chat between friends," Ferguson said as he shrugged.

"Where were you last night between nine and one AM, Mr. Ferguson?" Beckett said, cutting to the chase.

"Why?" he spat back.

"Because he was murdered, by an arsonist he was hunting."

"Well that's a real shame," Ferguson said with narrowed eyes.

"An arsonist not unlike yourself. He even wrote down your name right before he was killed," Esposito said.

"Not because I killed him. It must've been The Phantom. I don't know his real name."

"How do you know about him at all?" Esposito asked with an intimidating look.

"Blake told me. He called me, asked me to meet him in the village. He really wanted to catch this Phantom guy. He asked my help and I said I'd give it to him."

"Even though he put you in prison?" Esposito asked, disbelieving of the fact that this piece of scum would actually be called by a fire investigator to help on a case.

"Blake paid me for my time. Plus, he let me see some photos of the fires, so we both got something out of the deal," Ferguson said with a maniacal laugh.

Beckett swallowed. "And what other wisdom did you offer him?"

"Any idiot can slosh guys around and light a match. But this guy, he knew fire, knew how it spread. You see, buildings are just like people," Ferguson said, leaning in closer to Beckett, trying to captivate her attention. Esposito shifted in his chair, looking out for his sister. "There's a weak spot, a soft underbelly. He would find it, use it, unleash an inferno with barely any accelerant. That is an artist."

"So how did any of this help McCann?" Beckett asked.

"He gave me some tips. I told him he was looking for someone who cases buildings carefully; visits them a few times before he strikes."

"What else?" Beckett asked, holding a strong, straight face. She knew that since he was on a roll, he was going to keep talking if she asked and acted like she was interested.

"An artist like The Phantom, he wants to admire his work. It's not enough that he sets the fire; he needs to feel the heat. To listen to the music, the roar of the flames, the moans of the buildings as they give in. That's what he lives for. Which is why, with every fire he sets, he is there watching."

Beckett looked to Esposito as Ferguson smirked, thinking that he had tripped them up. He was wrong, because they had an idea about him and his story. They released Ferguson and made their way to Captain Gates' office.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED. **

**Review?(: **

**Get excited, guys! **


	7. Chapter 6

**I'm back, yay! Sorry it took me forever to get this next chapter out! Life's been insanely busy and when I have free time, I haven't been in the mood to write. **

**But now I am, so you get a new chapter! Yaaay! (:**

**For all of you that want the AU stuff, this story is becoming more and more AU as the chapters go on! This one is the most AU so far! Enjoy! **

* * *

"What do you make of his story?" Gates asked as she, Beckett, and Esposito stood in her office.

"The staff at the deli where he said he met with McCann remembers seeing them." Beckett replied.

"Who knows what they talked about though? McCann could've accused him of being the Phantom," Esposito added.

"Maybe he is the Phantom," Gates said with a quirk of her eyebrow.

"We don't have anything that links him to any of the arsons yet, so…" Beckett started.

"Dig into his alibi and associates; see if you can find anything solid," Gates cut her off.

"Okay," Beckett replied as they left Gates' office and went back to sit at their desks.

"One thing I can't stop thinking about is that Ferguson said that the arsonist watches his fires. He seemed pretty worked up about that. Maybe it is him," Esposito said to Beckett from his desk.

"I've got uniforms canvassing the fire scene and checking all of the security cameras near the scene to see if there was anyone in the shadows, hanging out," she replied. Her phone started to ring, so she pulled it out of her pocket to answer it. It was Castle, so she gestured to Esposito to come and listen to what information he and Ryan had.

"Hey," she said as she put the phone on speaker. Esposito rolled her eyes at her. All the sudden she gets all gushy now that she and Castle are engaged, so she responds with "hey" instead of her usual "Beckett" like she does to anyone else. They're disgusting.

"Hey, we found McCann's car. It was parked two blocks from the fire and we found something inside," Castle said.

"The arson files?" Beckett said, hoping she was right.

"Not exactly. They just seem to be just a few files that he put together himself. One of them is about the building that he got toasted in," Castle said as he and Ryan shuffled through the papers. Ryan gave him a look for the toasted comment, but Castle just shrugged his shoulders and continued.

Beckett smiled at her goofy fiancé, and Esposito again took notice, rolling his eyes. "What about the other one?" she asked.

Castle looked to Ryan who was holding the files, but the dad-to-be was too busy checking his phone for any calls from Jenny and to make sure his ringer was up all the way. Ryan looked up at Castle guiltily and he just smiled and grabbed the files from him. He opened the file and looked at what it said. "It's an old shoe factory in Brooklyn on Arcadia Lane. It's been empty for about five years or so."

"Maybe the files were on buildings that McCann thought were being targeted," Beckett said to Esposito.

"He was right about the one McCann got burned up in," Esposito replied.

"Okay listen babe. We believe-"

"Babe, really? Are you joking?" Esposito said with a look of disgust on his face.

"Oh, did I say that? Sorry, I guess it slipped out," Beckett said, her face reddening.

"You are such a sap," the Hispanic detective replied.

Her eyes immediately narrowed. "Shut up, I am not."

"You are too!"

"Guys? GUYS!" Castle yelled through the phone, quieting the two detectives. "Can we get on with it, please?"

"Right, sorry. We believe that the arsonist cases the buildings he burns, so check that factory and see if anyone suspicious is inside," Beckett said, giving Esposito a less-than-pleased look.

"Okay, we got it. Talk to you later."

Castle hung up the call, Ryan grabbed the files and they got in their car and drove to the address of the building on the case file. Ryan busted open the door and they both went inside, holding their flashlights high to look around the room.

"Ugh, look at this place. A fire would be an improvement," Castle commented.

"Yeah," Ryan agreed.

They rounded the corner of the room which led them down another dark hallway.

"It seems like there hasn't been anyone in here in years," Castle said. "It's creepy."

When Ryan continued walking alongside him but wasn't responding, Castle looked over to see him checking his phone again. "I'm sure your ringer is all the way up, Ryan. If Jenny was in labor, you'd know by now. I promise," he said as he patted the detective's back.

"I guess you're right," he said as he pocketed his phone again.

When they reached the end of the hallway, Castle said, "Alright, let's go back to the precinct. There's nothing in here to see."

"Whoa wait a minute," Ryan said. He pointed his flashlight at the chain holding a steel door closed. "An abandoned building with a brand new lock on its chain?" Ryan said.

Castle walked over to the chain to look at the lock, and Ryan grabbed his gun from its holster. Castle picked up a hard, heavy piece of steel and started to hit the lock, and after a few tries, it broke and fell off. He pulled the chain to lift the door and they both stepped inside the room slowly, Ryan first and Castle following behind.

"NYPD, anybody here?" Ryan yelled.

Ryan cleared the room and they took a look around. They both gasped at the equipment on the tables.

"What is all this?"

"Castle, these are blasting caps and accelerants."

"This isn't the arsonist's next target, it's his workshop!" Castle concluded.

All of the sudden, a loud, shrill alarm went off. They both startled and looked around to see what they could've set off.

"What alarm did we set off?" Castle yelled.

Ryan focused his flashlight on a countdown clock on the wall with only six seconds left.

"It's not an alarm! Get out, get out now!" Ryan yelled as they rushed to the door as quickly as they could.

But they were too late. They had only made it halfway out of the room when the windows caved, the explosives were set off, and the enormous fire started. Everything on the inside of the building exploded and the entire building was engulfed in flames.

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**Oh nooo! What's going to happennn? *laughs evilly* **


	8. Chapter 7

**HAPPY CASTLE MONDAY! Enjoy everyone! (:**

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"So I checked the security cameras near the fire. They were disabled," Beckett said as she walked up to Esposito's desk.

"Disabled how?" he asked as he was doing something on his computer.

"Someone used a can of spray paint, mounted it on a pole and blacked out the lenses of both cameras just minutes before the fire."

"Well then it had to have been the arsonist. Maybe someone saw him do it. I'll see if we can get some uniforms to canvass the area," Esposito said with a wave of his hand, never taking his eyes off of his computer.

"What are you looking for? And please don't tell me it's another one of those porn sites that Castle gave you the link to," Beckett asked as she rounded his desk to see what was on his screen.

"Not this time, actually. Given that everyone uploads everything to the internet these days I thought I might see if anyone else took a video of that fire. Look," Esposito said as he pulled up the video. "If the arsonist was watching the fire, maybe he's in the video."

Beckett leaned in to watch the video. "Can you turn up the sound?"

Esposito did as he was asked and they both watched it. Only one of the building's windows was open and after being focused on for a few seconds, smoke started to come out of it.

"That doesn't look right," Beckett said as she narrowed her eyes quizzically.

"Seriously, because that's a lot better quality than any of those security cams we had."

"No, I mean the building. That fire just started. The fire department's not even there. They're not even on their way; you can't hear the sirens."

"So how did the guy taking this video know there was a fire when no one else did?" Esposito said.

"And listen to that… he's not yelling for anyone to call 911. He's not saying anything at all."

"The camera is really steady, too. You thinking that-"

"Yep, I do. This isn't just footage of the fire; this was shot by the arsonist. We need to track down whoever posted that video."

Beckett and Esposito made their way to the tech room where Tory, their forensic tech girl, was looking over some of the security cam footage for them.

"Hey, can you try to track whoever posted this video?" Beckett asked her as she handed her a piece of paper with the video link on it.

"I can try," she said. She typed in the link and pulled it up. She worked her way around a few of the protection and privacy walls set up on the video. "It's not going to be that easy. Usually, there's a file embedded in the video on the camera, but it's been stripped out," the forensic tech said.

"Can you tell where it was first uploaded?" Esposito asked.

"Let me see," she said as she clicked and typed away on the keyboard. "Looks like the video got bounced around on the net from site to site, but this is where it started." She pulled up the website.

Beckett rolled her eyes. "Pyrolicious dot com, really?"

"Wow," Tory said. "Okay, a site that caters to fire fetishes."

"I didn't even know there was a fire fetish."

"People are freaky," Esposito commented.

"Yeah, obviously. So anyway, when did this video show up there?" Beckett asked.

"About an hour after the fire was put out."

"And who runs this site?" Beckett asked with a quirk of her eyebrow.

"It's registered to a Milo Pavlik."

"This guy got a record?" Esposito asked.

Tory pulled up his record in split seconds. "Oh yeah, he burned down his family house when he was nineteen."

"Where do we find this Milo Pavlik?" Beckett asked.

Tory pulled up the address for the detectives and Beckett punched it into the GPS on her phone. They grabbed their coats and headed off to find the creator of Pyrolicious.

* * *

"Milo Pavlik, NYPD, open up!" Beckett yelled as she knocked on the door.

Milo opened the door and Beckett pushed her way inside with Esposito right behind her.

"Whoa! Hey, what are you doing?" Milo asked.

Beckett showed him a screenshot of the video that she had taken of the fire. "Where did this video come from?" she asked in her no-nonsense voice.

"Listen, nothing I do here is illegal! I simply provide fire enthusiasts with-" Milo said, intimidated.

"This fire was set by an arsonist," Beckett cut him off.

"Who's also a murderer," Esposito chimed in.

"Who shot this video? Was it you?" Beckett asked him, taking a step closer to him.

"No!" Milo replied quickly. "What? It wasn't me!"

"Then how did it get up on your site?" Beckett asked as Milo's phone chimed. He picked it up and looked at it.

"Sorry, it's a text."

"I don't care! How did it get up on your site?" she asked again.

"I have a drop box outside. People leave stuff. It was on a USB drive. It was quality material, so I uploaded it."

"Who dropped it off?" Esposito asked, not wanting to take any of this guy's crap.

"I don't know. I have no idea."

"That's very convenient," Beckett said sarcastically. "Now did this person provide any other material?"

"Oh yeah, he's a real eye, this one," Milo said with a slight smile. "He sent me a few choice items," he said as his phone chimed again.

"If he really was someone else, and he's submitting videos, then he visits the site," Esposito said to Beckett.

Beckett nodded as she turned back to Milo. "I'm going to need the names of all your members, along with site traffic over the last five years."

"I'm pretty sure you need a warrant for that," Milo said, trying to hold his own.

"Not if you agree to cooperate, which I highly encourage you to do," she said as his phone chimed again. He looked down to see who the text was from and she was getting slightly angry at the fact that he wasn't listening to her. "Hey! Who the hell keeps texting you?"

"It's a news alert. There's a three alarmed fire going in Brooklyn."

"Where in Brooklyn?" Esposito asked.

"Some factory on Arcadia Lane."

Beckett froze and turned her head toward Esposito. Her expression was one of worry and fear. He knew exactly what that meant. She ran out the door of Milo's apartment and he followed, both hoping to God that it didn't mean what they thought it meant. Beckett frantically drove them straight to the factory without a word. They pulled up to the building, she parked and they got out. Esposito ran and stood by her side as they watched the building burn. It was completely engulfed in flames.

Beckett's heart sank in her chest. Her breathing quickened and a tear slid down her cheek. She let out a choked sob and Esposito stood there with her, completely overwhelmed.

Castle and Ryan were in that building.

They were dead. Beckett just knew it. There's no possible way they could be alive in there.

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**Things are getting heated! (see what I did there?) **


	9. Chapter 8

**Oh, my dear readers, how I've missed you! I've been so insanely busy. I know that that is the excuse I always use, but it's only the truth! I hope you all have been having a wonderful day and I just wanted to thank you all again for sticking with me and this story! You guys really are the best! In honor of Castle-less Monday, here's Chapter 8!(: **

**(you'll notice that the Prologue is in this chapter)**

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_Castle and Ryan were in that building. _

_They were dead. Beckett just knew it. There's no possible way they could be alive in there. _

What is she thinking? She can't jump to conclusions like that. They were definitely _alive_. They had to be. Castle and Ryan had been in dangerous situations before and this is just another one of them. They're probably on their way out of the building right now. Running as fast as they can through the hallways and finding the nearest door to escape from the flames.

Beckett stood there, watching the flames build and engulf more of the unstable structure.

"They're still not answering. Not Ryan or Castle," Esposito said as he looked at the fearful expression on Beckett's face. Beckett nodded, not liking what she was just told. Esposito hit the "end call" button on his phone in frustration and fear after countless times of trying to contact Ryan and Castle.

"Detective, are you sure they were inside?" the chief fireman asked her as he strode up to she and Esposito.

"Yeah they were checking the building in connection with an arson homicide and they haven't called in yet. You need to alert your rescue teams," Beckett said in the strongest voice she could muster.

"Detective, the building's fully involved. I just had to pull out the interior tag teams. I can't send in a rescue company until it's more contained," he said as he reached into the truck to grab something, thinking the conversation had concluded.

"Wait, more contained?" she asked in disbelief as she pushed his arm back so he could look at her once again. "If my guys are in there, I need you to bring them out!" she said, noticing the emotion getting into her voice.

"If we could get in there I would, but there's been a partial collapse inside. I almost lost six of my guys. We'll do everything we can Detective, but this building is a fire storm, every floor! If your guys are in there, I'm sorry but they're probably gone," he replied back in a slightly agitated tone.

Beckett rolled her eyes at the inconceivable man. He was supposed to be helping people, not giving up on them!

_They're probably gone. _

_Gone. _

She couldn't tear her mind away from the chief's words.

They couldn't be gone. They were alive, goddamn it, they had to be! She and Castle were finally sealing the deal and he couldn't just leave her like this! He fought for her and she fought for him time and time again, so she knew he would get through this.

"Chief?" Beckett asked as he started to walk away. He heard her stern voice and turned back as he placed his hat on his head.

"The fire," she said as she gave a quick nod to the building, as if he wouldn't know what she was referring to. "What started it?"

"Shattered windows and structural damage indicate some kind of explosion," he said quickly as he turned around and walked away again.

Esposito shifted from foot to foot and looked at the ground in worry and fear for his partner's life as Kate took a step toward the building and stared at it, wondering how the hell she was going to get Castle out of there. She stared at the building in longing and sadness as her lip quivered.

Now is not the time for emotions, Kate. Get it together. You need to be strong for him. He _needs_ you to be strong for him right now. Even though you know he's being strong in there, you still need to be strong, too.

Esposito noticed the forlorn expression on Kate's face. "Maybe they're not inside the building," he said as he put a hand on her shoulder. He didn't believe a word he said, but he thought that she might at least.

"Ryan's car is here and they haven't called. Castle always answers my calls. And if he doesn't, he calls me back within minutes. They're inside," she said with a gulp and a blank stare. She was appreciative of Esposito for trying to make her feel better, but she really needed him to cut the crap and think practically. "I shouldn't have let them go alone, and God, I shouldn't have let Castle go in there with Ryan! I'm so stupid!"

"Hey, there's no way you would've known that this was going to happen. You are _not _stupid, Beckett. You're just worried and scared right now. This is the arsonist's fault, not yours," Esposito said.

She can't cry. She won't cry. She has to be strong, not only for her but for Esposito. His partner is in that building.

But God, so is hers.

Her _fiancé_ is in that building.

What if he's dead? What if he's already burnt to a crisp?

No, she can't think like that. Castle's a fighter, and so is Ryan. They're going to make it out of there alive.

Or so she hopes.

She feels the lone tear escape and run down her cheek as the shrill ring of her cell phone and it's vibration against her abdomen startles her out of her own mournful thoughts.

She pulls the device from her pocket and looks at the screen. "It's Jenny," she says with a sigh to Esposito, who is standing beside her.

"Why would she be calling you?" he asks.

"Maybe she's heard from them. Maybe she knows that they're safe," Beckett says with slightly too much enthusiasm, trying to reassure her pseudo-brother and most importantly, herself.

She answers on speakerphone with a simple, "Jenny?"

"Kate, oh thank God," the nine month pregnant woman says with a hint of worry in the tone of her voice. "Umm, have you heard from Kevin?" she asks anxiously.

Another tear falls down Kate's cheek as her heart shatters for herself and the woman she has come to love as a friend. "No, have you?" she forces out.

"No. I've been calling him to test our system and he's not answering. I'm freaking out a little bit, umm, do you have any idea where he is?"

Kate looks to Esposito, and he responds with a sympathetic look.

She has to tell Jenny that her husband, along with her own fiancé, are trapped in a burning building and she doesn't even know whether or not they are dead or alive. She turns to look at the building.

"Kate? Kate, are you there?" Jenny says, wondering if the connection had been lost.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here," Kate gulped as she turned back to Esposito.

"What's going on? Where's Kevin?"

"Jenny I need you to stay calm, okay? Something's happened," her voice broke as the tears freely fell.

Two of the most important people in her life were slowly slipping out of it, and she couldn't do anything about it. She just had to sit there and watch as the love of her life and her pseudo-brother were trapped inside a building engulfed in flames.

All of the tears that she had kept at bay finally broke free.

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**TO BE CONTINUED. **

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	10. Chapter 9

**I am currently sitting in a hotel writing this on my iPad, which let me tell you, is HARD. Dedication, people. **

**Anywaaaay, here's chapter 9!(: **

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As he came to, he smelled the smoke, felt the heat, and heard the crackle and rumble of the building he was trapped in. All he tasted was ash and debris and when he opened his eyes, he saw the destruction around him. His eyes bulged as he looked up and saw the huge hole in what was the ceiling and the flames that completely engulfed the top floors. He moved to look around and remembered what had happened.

"Ryan," he rasped through his dry throat. "Ryan!" he yelled in the loudest voice he could.

"Cas," he heard, along with raspy coughs. "Cas-tle."

Castle saw Ryan's arm waving for him. He stood up immediately and ran over to help the detective. Castle didn't even notice the severe, sharp pain in his head; he only wanted to help his friend. Castle grabbed Ryan by the arm and pulled him up. Ryan grunted in pain and leaned on Castle for support.

"Whoa, you look _horrible_," Castle said in astonishment. Ryan's pant legs were all ripped and torn and he was dirty and full of rubble. He had a slight limp in his walk as well. He leaned on Castle for support, as it seemed that his left leg was in real pain.

"Oh my _God_ Castle, your head!" Ryan yelled when he looked at the writer.

"What about it?" Castle yelled as his hand immediately went to his head. He felt the warm, gooey substance. He brought his hand down and saw the blood cover his fingertips. That's when he noticed the severe pain in his head.

"Dude, are you okay?" Ryan asked as he stepped closer to have a better look at the wound.

"My head really hurts," he said as he took a step backward.

"Whoa, here, sit down," Ryan said. He helped Castle to sit on a large cement pipe that had fallen and then he grabbed Castle's jacket and took it off him. There was a rip in the sleeve, so Ryan ripped it the rest of the way and tied the ripped sleeve around Castle's head, applying pressure to the large, open wound.

"Is it really that bad?" Castle asked, placing his hand over the makeshift bandage.

"Yeah. We really need to get you out of here so we can get it checked out."

"Yeah um, about that," Castle said as he looked around the room with a glint of fear in his eyes. "How the hell are we going to get out of here?"

"I don't know dude, but we need to find a way," Ryan said. "My wife is going to go into labor at any moment and I need to be there."

_Oh God, Kate. _

Castle hadn't even thought about his love. He wished he could be out there, pulling her close and whispering loving words to her. She was probably so worried about him. God, he missed her. He needed to get out, and fast, because he needed her, probably more than she needed him right now.

God, his head _hurts_.

* * *

"They're smart, Kate. They've found the safest place inside that building to hide," Esposito said as he looked at his pseudo-sister comfortingly.

"Yeah, but for how long?" she said through tear-filled eyes and a choked sob.

Esposito just stared at the building, not able to be sure of any answer that he would give Kate.

"The two folders in McCann's car; he knew that this building was next. But how?" Beckett mumbled to herself.

"He must've figured out the arsonist's plan," Esposito said, hearing her.

"Which means there's a pattern," Beckett replied with narrowed eyes and lines on her forehead that indicated her train of thought. "And if he figured it out, then so can we."

"Move back! Everybody back! Move back!" the fire chief yelled as he flailed his arms wildly.

"What's going on?" Beckett said with a tone of worry as she ran up to the fire chief with Esposito in tow.

"This building's gone. We have to move into defensive attack. Other structures are in danger."

"You can't just give up! One of the best detectives in the NYPD and my _fiancé_ are in there! You have to get them out!" she yelled frantically as she felt the tears fall faster. "I _know_ they're alive in there, Chief! You have to save them!"

"Our teams just went through the other buildings and they're tinderboxes," Mark Kimball said as he walked over to the detectives. "If we don't hold the line, we can lose the whole block."

"Kate! Javi!" Beckett whipped around to see Lanie running up to her. Beckett's face dropped.

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**TO BE CONTINUED. **

**Review?(: **


	11. Chapter 10

**Hello everyone! Sorry it has been a while since I last updated! I was at the State Speech Competition on Saturday and my partner and I got seventh place out of forty-five participants! We are so ecstatic! Then, last night I was at Lorde's concert! She was absolutely amazing! I'm still so blown away!**

**Anyway, enough about me. Back to the story, eh? Don't cry too much! (;**

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"How are we going to get out of here?" Castle mumbled to himself as he looked around at the flames all around them. He suddenly got an idea, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, but sighed when he found the front screen shattered.

"God damn it, another phone? How many replacement phones have I already gotten this year?" he mumbled to himself angrily. "Ryan, do you have your phone?"

"Good idea!" Ryan yelled. He pulled his phone out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket, but sighed when it read NO SERVICE. He held it up and walked around to see if he could get any bars, but he had no luck. Judging by the huge hole in the ceiling and the multiple ceilings above them, it looked like they were in a basement anyway.

"This building is huge. The fire department has to be out there, trying to look for us, right?" Castle said with a hint of hope.

"Yeah, definitely. They just need to know that we're down here."

* * *

"HEY! SOMEBODY! IS ANYONE OUT THERE? HELP US!" Castle yelled as loudly as he could.

"HELP! ANYBODY HEAR US? DOWN HERE! HELP!" Ryan yelled as he cupped his hands over his mouth to make the sound even louder.

After minutes of yelling, the boys gave up.

"It's no use. The fire's too loud. They can't hear us," Ryan said.

Castle sighed and stumbled to sit when the wound on his head started to pulsate rapidly.

"You okay Castle?" Ryan said, worried.

"Y-yeah, I'll be fine," he said, holding his head in his hands. "Should we try yelling again?"

"No, it's not worth it. No one can hear us and we should save our strength," Ryan said as he took his tie off and unbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt.

"There's only so much time before the fire sucks all the oxygen in the room," Castle said.

"There's got to be another way out of here; some other way to let them know we're down here," Ryan stated as he looked around.

"How?" Castle said, panting.

"I don't know. Something."

"Yeah well, unless you have an oxygen tank, a pair of wings, and a fireman's suit, we're never going to make it out of here alive," Castle said as his head throbbed.

"What happened to you, Mr. Optimistic? Since when are you all Negative Nelly?"

"Since I realized that we are in a burning building that is going to collapse any minute. But Ryan, we have to make it out of here. I have a woman out there who I love more than anything in the world, man," Castle said as he grabbed Ryan's sleeve. "We're supposed to be getting married, Ryan, and I need to make it out of here for that! Kate's already been through so much and I won't let her down again," he said in desperation.

"Hey, we'll make it out, okay Castle? We can do this," Ryan said, feeling sympathy for his friend. "I don't know how, but we're going to make it out of here, okay?"

Ryan looked around, and when he saw the black object catch his eye, a slight feeling of hope erupted in him.

* * *

_"Kate! Javi!" Beckett whipped around to see Lanie running up to her. Beckett's face dropped._

Behind Lanie was a very pregnant and uncomfortable-looking Jenny.

"She was at the police barricades," Lanie said, gesturing to Jenny.

"Jenny, you shouldn't be here," Beckett said with a look of empathy in her eyes.

"The hell I shouldn't! My husband's in there!" Jenny fired back. "Oh God!" she said as her face scrunched in pain and she placed her hand on her rounded stomach.

"She's having contractions and they're only five minutes apart. She's in labor," Lanie stated with a slight tone of panic. "Jenny, we need to get you to the hospital."

"Medic! Over here, this woman's in labor," Beckett yelled, gesturing to Jenny.

"No, I'm not leaving! Not without Kevin!" Jenny cried, tears falling down her cheek.

"Jenny, there's nothing you can do here," Beckett said, trying to keep her Detective face on rather than her friend and fiancée face.

"He's inside, Kate! And if he doesn't make it out, if this is it, I need to be here. You understand, don't you?" she said as she grabbed Beckett's hand, taking a step closer to her friend. "I know Castle's in there too, and I know how much you love him. Hell, you two are about to get married. Kate please, just let me stay here. I want them out of there as badly as you do. I want to be here for the love and support. Please, Kate. _Please._"

A lone tear fell down Beckett's cheek. "Okay, but at least go inside an ambulance with Lanie so you can lie down and make sure everything's okay, alright? I promise you we are doing everything we can to get them out."

"I know you are, Kate. Thank you, really," Jenny said as she gave Beckett's hand a squeeze and let Lanie pull her to one of the ambulances on the scene.

"I can't believe this is happening. This is like some kind of a dream. I just keep waiting to wake up but it's like I can't do anything. It's like there's nothing we can do," Beckett cried as she put her head in her hands.

"We just have to be there for them, Kate. They know we're out here doing everything we can to make sure they make it back to us alive," Esposito said as he pulled her in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around her pseudo-brother and squeezed him tightly, crying into his shoulder.

He had seen Beckett shook up and rattled before, but never like this. This is the most emotional he has ever seen her, and it made the fire in him become a little bit brighter. They had to get them out, because if Beckett lost Castle, she would never survive. She had already lost her mother and had remarkably recovered from that, granted, with quite a few battle scars from bullets and hanging from roofs, but she was stronger than ever now that she has Castle, and he would not let him be taken from her, too.

When Esposito released Beckett from his embrace, the shrill ring of her phone broke him from his thoughts.

"Beckett," she said with all the strength that she could muster.

She heard static and crackling on the other end of the line, but no voices.

"Hello?" she said into the receiver.

"Beckett? Beckett, can you hear me? Beckett?"

"Ryan?" she said with a hint of hope in her voice. "Ryan, is that you?"

"Yeah it's me Beckett, listen uh… the building that we went into, it was the next arson target, it was his lair! He rigged it to blow and now we're trapped inside. The whole place is in flames," Ryan frantically yelled into the phone.

"Yes, I know Ryan, we're right outside. We've got the whole fire department here. We thought- God, we thought you guys were dead," Beckett said into the phone as the tears instantly started falling for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Just hearing her friend's voice and knowing that her fiancé was with him, _alive_, was one of the most relieving feelings she had ever felt.

"We will be soon if we don't get some help!" Castle yelled from a distance.

"Babe," Beckett whispered as she heard his voice. "We have a blueprint out here; we'll try to figure something out. Stay on the line!"

* * *

"Okay, so exactly where in the building are you?" the fire chief said as he and Beckett unrolled the blueprint.

"Some kind of sub-basement mechanical room. We're about twenty feet down from the main floor, and there aren't any windows or doors," Ryan said into the phone.

"This doesn't make any sense," the fire chief said.

"Why?" Beckett asked, worried to hear what could potentially be another obstacle for them to have to overcome.

"According to these plans, this building has a slab foundation. There is no basement area."

"Well we are definitely in a basement. There must be something wrong with the plans!" Castle said again from a distance.

Just as Beckett suspected. Another obstacle.

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**TO BE CONTINUED. **

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